Northern Crystal Commonwealth (Confessions of a Wasteland Pony)
The Northern Crystal Commonwealth is a location in the audio drama series Confessions of a Wasteland Pony. It appears in the sixth episode, The Ice Mare. History & Crystal Refinery The Northern Crystal Commonwealth is an industrial outgrowth from the historic Crystal Empire. After the reappearance of the Crystal Empire following a thousand years, inspired the push of the Kingdom of Equestria further into the Northern tundra. Using the empire as a staging location, many of the surrounding mountains were much more heavily mined in the years leading up to The Great War. The mountains had an abundance of crystals and it soon became economical to construct refineries closer to the mountains themselves. From these refineries crystals could be separated from ore and sorted for their magical potency or other unique properties, then packaged accordingly and shipped off to where they needed to go. Many refineries were built between the Crystal Empire city and the mountains themselves. Housing units for the ponies and other creatures were constructed near the refineries as well as grocery stores, restaurants, and other city essentials for those who did not wish to travel the several dozen or hundred miles all the way back to the Crystal Empire proper. This urban sprawl between the empire and the arctic crystal mines came to be called the "Northern Crystal Commonwealth." This regional designation was useful both administratively and descriptively, so the name caught hold fast. Arcane science was rapidly evolving technologies thanks in large part to the crystals being mined, and so the NCC continued to fill in with other research locations and factories unrelated to the crystal mines as well. The land was not only cheaper but overall more ideal rather than disturbing the ancient homes and buildings of the Empire which had been frozen in time. When early hostilities broke out with the zebras, a crystal embargo was one of the main resource weapons employed by Equestria. This quickly required the expansion of military installations in the Commonwealth. The main war balloon base established was called the Emerald Crown Airfield, named after a historic figure from the Crystal Empire. During the course of the war, a zebra expeditionary team took up position in one of the refineries beginning a long standoff against the Equestrian forces trying to drive them out. The newly commissioned Blue Moon-class stealth bombers were brought in to root out the last of the zebra forces. Unfortunately for them, the zebras were expecting and prepared for ground-to-air warfare. The campaign would be very costly for the Equestrian forces as Captain Frozen Peaks would later recant. Quotes * "The Commonwealth was filled with natural resources that the Zebras needed desperately. There are very few crystal mines within their country. Most of them were within Equestrian territory. So when the war raged in full, they were facing extreme scarcity. The fleet of the ‘''Blue Moon-Class’ war balloons were specifically sent to destroy the Zebra forces in the North… to keep the Crystal Commonwealth safe."'' - Freezie * "You should go easy on yourself ma’am… We’ve all lost ships, or failed operations at one time or another. You helped keep the Northern Crystal Commonwealth out of Zebra control until the end of the war. And, I mean... You literally went down with your ship. That old adage never said you had to die with it…" - Freezie (paraphrasing Ranch Horn) Behind The Scenes * Confessions of a Wasteland Pony only attempts to stay canonical with the original Fallout: Equestria by Kkat (as well as other EAST Corp stories). Because of this, the original Crystal Empire did not exist within Kkat's book and hence was open to interpretation for the Confessions story. So canonically speaking, this assumes a version of MLP plays out where Cadance is not an alicorn, but simply a noble unicorn within upper Canterlot society (similar to "Prince Blueblood" from Season 1). The events of her and Shining Armor's wedding play out relatively the same and the couple are highly trusted nobles. Once the Crystal Empire reappears, Celestia selects them to take control of the Empire accordingly and the Season 3 intro events play out essentially the same. * While not mentioned, the story assumes that Cadance and Shining live out the events of The Great War protecting the Crystal Empire and Northern Crystal Commonwealth. Their fate is undetermined. This story also assumes the canonicity of the symphonic metal opera "Fall of an Empire," which SkyBolt wrote. In particular the idea that like many other smaller kingdoms, the once independent "Crystal Empire" officially joined the Kingdom of Equestria to become one unified pony nation from "sea to sea." It gives additional context and legitimacy to Celestia installing a new ruler once the Crystal Empire returns. * Much of the story concept is inspired by Anchorage storyline in the original Fallout universe. * "Emerald Crown Airfield" is a reference to the real life Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage, Alaska. It plays a similar strategic role, hosting the Blue Moon-class stealth bombers in the same way Elmendorf played a critical role in hosting the B-52 Stratofortress bombers during the Cold War. Category:EAST Corp Productions Category:Confessions of a Wasteland Pony Category:Locations (Confessions of a Wasteland Pony)